Nodus Tollens

LXV.

"Juliet. Juliet. Juliet!"

I looked up from the bracelet that I was playing with to see that everyone was staring at me. I blinked, having lost track of whatever the conversation was a while ago, I couldn't even pretend to have been following with a vague comment.

"I'm sorry, what?" I slid my sunglasses down from my head to guard my eyes against the sun that was shining brightly down on the school parking lot.

"I was asking if you came up with any fundraiser ideas," Jade raised her eyebrows, as I stared at her blankly. "You know...for the Championships?"

"O-oh. Right," I nodded, biting back a string of curse words. "The Championships. The Championships that are happening next month."

"You forgot didn't you?" Additri groaned, tilting her head back to look up at the sky.

"Of course I didn't forget," I lied, smiling. "Don't be ridiculous. Come on, would I ever drop the ball on something as important as the Championships?"

It was a good thing I had mastered the art of lying long ago otherwise, the panic I could feel bubbling in my chest would certainly break through my composed mask.

The National High School Cheerleading Championship was the most prestigious in the entire country. The fact that we even managed to qualify this time around after years of rejection was a big deal within itself. The fact that the event was happening in Disney World this year made it a big deal times ten.

The only problem that stood in the way of such a grand opportunity was money. To be able to participate we had to fork over twelve grand, which was way out of the team's budget. The school didn't deem cheerleading as important as any of the other more "socially popular" sports teams and were unwilling to cut even the tiniest bit of the budget for football or baseball for the team.

I wanted to strangle every member on the school board, but that wasn't the most productive move, so the girls and I hustled to add to the limited budget we were working with. Our summer and most of the first two marking periods consisted of bake sales, car washes, coupon book sales...you name it, we had probably done it.

At one point I had just offered to write a check funding the event so that it wasn't something constantly weighing on my mind, but our coach had adamantly refused. Apparently, it was "inappropriate" for just one student to cover such a pricy trip, and that the "fruits of our labor" would taste that much better if the team "worked together to fund this once in a lifetime opportunity".

Justine was such a head case sometimes.

Anyway, all our blood, sweat, and tears worked. Our fundraisers were incredibly successful, particularly the car wash, but I had a feeling that was mostly due to Jade imposing the rule that everyone had to be in a bikini. There had been more than a couple of people coming back a few times in a single day despite their cars being squeaky clean.

We added six thousand dollars to the four thousand dollars we could pull from the limited budget. We were in pretty great shape, and while two thousand dollars was still a lot, in theory, it wasn't impossible to make it if we stayed on track. Although, part of that track was me having an idea ready to go as soon as winter break wrapped.

I was screwing everyone over by showing up to the first day of classes after break and not having something mapped out, especially since I had insisted I would come up with an idea that would make us well over what we needed.

"So what's the plan?" Donna asked, looking at me with the same expectant look everyone else was pinning me with.

"Well, that's a discussion to be had on our very first practice," I smiled easily. "I know everyone's anxious, especially now that we're in the last stretch of things, but things need to be done in an orderly fashion, and not everyone is here. I want you all to hear my brilliant idea at once."